ROSTOW'S VIEW OF HISTORY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200330009-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 19, 1998
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 24, 1959
• Content Type: NSPR

BAIITIMORE SUN OCT 2 4 1959
-Approved for RgIiease 1999/09/07 : CIA-
. I
J _!i'Iesiollvs Viewl
J CPYRGHT
c
' nor y I I a nation's , resources cconie fully`
An American professor has advanced
;.. ;few interpretation. of economic his-
tor y which t ?n;es from a sweeping
revision of Marx to a forecast of a
,revolution in global Tower and a plan
to cud the ecid war. Professor, W It
Institute of '1?echnology, recently
de c:ui~eu.
Mich the national kin ; l eco
nres 'the
is ac ton n c
y
for the go d life:
L'n to the fourth point h ,
1fostow
believes, ire and blare
are
agreed.
But Ma; -x did not 1ivd
to
see that,
folded . his "Non-Communist Man!- ed Society tends to become "bored"
festo in a series of lectures at Cam. withJ%larx's profit'moti,e and turns,
bridge Univc i tiny and in the pages' its 'energies to other goals. It may seek
of the London Ecv rbnaist? military glory, especially if militant.f
Hailed by the Economist as having j nationalism had been the driving fbrce
made the most important contribution :behind' modernization. it may fiudi
,to economic thought since World War sa i,-laction.i;icreating welfare state.,i
IL Professor Rostow predicts that Its. natural peaceful belt, however, is
tit tth n 60 years the'absolute diplomatic io cater the high consumption era and't
aiici i i liiary supremacy of the Western ; , i;L r to its peoples' desire for creature I'
and Soviet super powers will be broken comforts.
I by. a universal wave-. of industrializa- Because the Kremlin clings to, the
{ion. By that time, so many nations 7
~aarxian belief that the West is doomed, '+,
'will be able ' to- produce nuclear however, it has contimtted to arm and 1
apons' that. the United States and to foment irt'espontib nationalism
ii e Soviet Union will be reduced to among emergent nations at the expense
middling" -powers in respect to their of well-being at home: Because ` the .'
control over--world' events.; Unless a.: a, ironically, is so deeply preoc-
i settlement of the nuclear arms race ctij',ied with itsbooming consumer
is reached in tine, Mr. Rostow holds.', market, it has- failed to grant enough
v'orld peace in the Twenty-first Cen? ' rid to such Lion Commttt ist "take oz"
fury, will be at the mercy' of not two offorts as India's Five :'ear Plan.
but' a multitude, of countries and the
whims of their leaders.
Having made this warning as his If the West rcmnnsbstrong enou,h
main claim for urgent consideration militarily to discanragq,,,'oviet zggres-'
of his theory, Mr. Rostow considers .Sion, though, and if the' West expands,
i he major problem of reconciling the its economic ail to '5tuderdevelopect
iti;erests of the Communist and capi. countries, !Lir. Rostov argues, then'
aist. worlds. The. key to their differ- Russia will be forced $o negotiate In,
cnces -is Marx, he believes: the Com- the continued absence.df war, Russia's,
munist prophet is outmoded; the rising domestic chant lkir a, better
capitalists must offer a more timely will become overwhening. Furth i:r,
ideology, suitable to both societies. as the actions of sticl "take-off"
lions as China and Egypt have anti-,
The professor's approach to this task mated, lesser powers .-lay not shrink is based on his now . familiar theory from using nuclear vF:,pons to turn,
the cold war to adva (age.
,of the' stages of national .- growth. i
Renders of "A, Proposal:. Key to an j
The die Must convince fit s~ia that.
Efioctive Foreign Policy," a1957 boob,
by M. rRostow and Professor Mix F. the v,ay of tetice lies t ! ? dventn